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Five Star Rating

I'm putting out a Flagstaff Lake Cache trail series. The first one requires a boat in the summer. If the lake is low enough you can walk to it in the fall. And in the winter you can walk or snowmobile to it. I can also swim to it but then I'm a good swimmer, I wouldn't recommend doing that in general. I hate to lose cachers!

The second in the series I say requires a boat but it's a 10 minute paddle if you put in at the right place. However, KG walked to it! Took her 3 hours round trip but she did it, along the shoreline.

The third I don't think even KG could walk to although I suppose it's possible. At least you could when the lake is frozen. Where's there's a will there probably is a way.

Do I need to give all three a five star rating because you "need" a boat? Somewhere I read if it requires a boat, then it's got to be 5 star. However, the difficulty is different on all three of these. Help?

"There is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats". Wind In the Willows

On my caches, I've figured that most people are doing them when there is no ice on the lakes. Having said that, I've done many that I walked to. If you assume that the majority of cachers are getting the cache in the spring/summer/fall seasons, I would think that a 5 rating would be accurate.
Many caches can vary in difficulty. If you place a cache under heavy tree cover and someone finds it in early spring when there are no leaves, the difficulty goes down. I would say rate for the conditions that most people would experience when finding the cache.

Thanks for the link. I was referring to the terrain rating. Maybe I'm just so used to kayaking I don't think of it as "difficult". I took two people from Ohio out today to find Cache Trail # 1 and # 2. It took 30 seconds to teach them how to paddle and they bucked a strong head wind coming back with no problems. But "5" it is! I'm changing my ratings now.

PS Anyone that's coming up this way, I have five kayaks and can teach you how to use them.

"There is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats". Wind In the Willows

IMO, a boat should not be special equipment. At least not a boat that an average person could use with no more instruction that it takes to run a bicycle. If the cache was 300 miles into the ocean, that might be different.

However, The GCRS as T2H cited was decided upon a long time ago and cache hiders should adhere to those standards. So, it's a 5 terrain!

When you get to a shoreline and the cache is 300' away and you don't have a boat, it IS special equipment! Very special. One of the difficulties of island caches far from home is lugging the kayak. I'm very at home in a canoe or kayak, but if I don't have it with me, I gotta wait for the water to ice over to get the cache

When you get to a shoreline and the cache is 300' away and you don't have a boat, it IS special equipment! Very special.

Yes, but using that definition I have had times caching when batteries would be special equipment! Or boots! Or a spare tire! Or a dry set of clothes!

Originally Posted by Sudonim

One of the difficulties of island caches far from home is lugging the kayak.

Actually that's the subject that prompted me to think about this thread. I was talking to someone about how Lee and I loaded the kayaks and drove two and a half hours to kayak less than a half mile to the Two if by Sea cache. We did get one other land cache that day but never put the kayaks in water again.

20,000 Leagues under Province Lake

Originally Posted by Sudonim

When you get to a shoreline and the cache is 300' away and you don't have a boat, it IS special equipment! Very special. One of the difficulties of island caches far from home is lugging the kayak. I'm very at home in a canoe or kayak, but if I don't have it with me, I gotta wait for the water to ice over to get the cache

I once had to swim out almost 200' and dive down 6' to retrieve a cache. The special equipment needed that day was a towel. It was October in NH.

And that was rated 2.5\2.5

Why not live life like it is your last day....instead of pretending to be a member of the Peter Pan Club and believing you will be around forever.

OK my 2cents

If a cache is on an island and you need a boat to get there it should get a 5. Now here in Maine that same island on a frozen lake may only rate a 2 depending on the walk. If that lake was in the south then a 5 would be appropriate all year round. Unless there are gators then it's an 8. If the cache is on the shore of a lake then technically you can walk to it from another part of the lake shore. This is where I would question what rating to give it. Many on remote lakes are not feasible to walk to. Clear as mud, right.

On my caches, I've figured that most people are doing them when there is no ice on the lakes. Having said that, I've done many that I walked to. If you assume that the majority of cachers are getting the cache in the spring/summer/fall seasons, I would think that a 5 rating would be accurate.
Many caches can vary in difficulty. If you place a cache under heavy tree cover and someone finds it in early spring when there are no leaves, the difficulty goes down. I would say rate for the conditions that most people would experience when finding the cache.

I'm going with Andy on this one in regards to the terrain rating . . . I figure most sane people do most of their caching in the summer, spring or fall . . . and yes I am kidding. As such, they would need specialized equipment . . . i.e. some type of boat . . . I consider specialized equipment anything an average geocacher would not normally pack along for a geocaching attempt (i.e. most geocachers would pack a GPSr, batteries, boots, their car has a spare tire, etc.) . . . but most don't routinely haul around a kayak (and some would have to borrow one if they do not own one themselves), bring along climbing rope, ice crampons, diving equipment, spelunking gear, etc.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the realization that there is something more important than fear."